Tascam 688 wont rewind

John Mackenzie

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Oct 29, 2017
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Gear owned
Tascam 688 midistudio
Hi good people. I am new here. Looking forward to taking part in discussions. I have an old Tascam 688, which has been sitting unused for a few years and needs various repairs. It does power up, and all my scenes are selectable. It would not play, but all other functions on the deck did work. I changed the capstan belt yesterday as I found it to be broken. now it will play/fast forward/ pause/stop/ , but it will now not Rewind. When I took it apart I thought that a motor had a strange looking black marking on the side, like melted plastic. (maybe a wire). I am about to take it apart again, but wanted to know if this machine has separate motors for Fast forward and Rewind. Any advice would be very welcome ! I also have a more serious issue with it, in that I am not getting audio through it, just a 50Hz hum. After (if) I get the tape drive working again, I will take it into a repair shop, or perhaps attempt this myself. I have ordered a service manual for it from USA and awaiting its arrival. Quite expensive, but probably worth it ! I am is Scotland, so it may take some time for it to arrive. I have had 25+ yrs experience in repairing audiovisual equipment and can usually tackle most things, but this time it might be wiser to hand over to an expert. I loved using this machine, before moving on to computer DAW. I want to be able to transfer some of my old 8 track recordings into computer to remix and tidy up. Sorry for long post, but I thought it better to give a full picture of the issues.
 
Update on Rewind issue. After taking machine apart again, I examined the motor. The black marking on it was not a melted wire. when I put it back together again, it was just the same. However, after hitting FFW /stop/ pause and varying speed etc.etc. , suddenly the Rewind function started working. I have repeated this a few times and I can make it work, but not always. It seems to depend on where I press the button. Instead of just centre, if I press it on the left hand side, bottom, it will operate. Also, holding it down for a sec or two seems to be important. Maybe a capacitor charging slowly?. So glad the mechanism is working though. Now to investigate the sound problem. I think I have a power supply problem, or something to do with audio chip. I shall be patient and wait for the service manual to arrive. If I can't fix it, then the manual will be useful to a repair technician to assist finding the problem.
 

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